Helps investors monitor and report on portfolio risk and captures enhanced corporate disclosure driven by regulation

ISS ESG, the sustainable investment arm of ISS STOXX, launched its enhanced Modern Slavery solution which helps investors to monitor and report on portfolio risk, supported by ISS ESG’s differentiated and holistic assessment of modern slavery-related risk exposure, disclosure and management, as well as controversies.

The new dedicated offering includes a scorecard and portfolio report powered by a comprehensive dataset sourced from three industry-leading ISS ESG solutions, the ESG Corporate Rating, Norm-Based Research and the ESG Country Rating, along with data sourced from external sources such as the US Department of Labor. Its vigorous methodology assesses 25 quantitative and qualitative factors developed by ISS ESG’s modern slavery and human rights experts. As of June 2024, the Modern Slavery solution covers approximately 60,000 issuers globally in its risk assessment section and 8,000 issuers are covered by all sections of the report. The universe is growing on a regular basis in order to meet client demand.

Till Jung, Head of ISS ESG said: “The new launch is timely in light of improving corporate modern-slavery and supply-chain related disclosure in markets such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada,  France, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway, driven by significant regulatory developments in recent years.” Jung added: “The modern slavery solution’s new reporting functionality allows clients to upload their portfolio and download a report which details their risk exposure and also demonstrates how their holdings are managing modern slavery risks.”

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Investors face ongoing scrutiny regarding portfolio holdings involved in controversies such as forced labour, child labour and human trafficking. The new modern slavery solution supports investors’ risk management by identifying portfolio exposure to modern slavery-related risks and allows investors to benchmark portfolio companies against their industry peers. It facilitates investor reporting on modern slavery risks, disclosures, performance and controversies, including significant areas of geographic, industry and product risk. Further use cases include supporting investors’ due diligence by integrating the granular data into in-house assessments and helping investors to identify high-risk and poor-performing companies for engagement.